Build AI That Makes Every Student Succeed

The Mission: Transform How 1 Million Students Learn

At Subject, we believe the current education system is failing millions of students - not because teachers don't care, but because the technology doesn't exist to truly personalize learning at scale. We're building the AI infrastructure that will finally make personalized education accessible to every student, regardless of their background, learning style, or circumstances.

Backed by Owl Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Latitude Ventures, and the CEOs of WHOOP, Cameo, and Aurora Solar, we create cinematic, short-form content paired with a robust learning platform serving thousands of students daily.

The Impact: Your Code Will Transform How 100K+ Students Learn Every Month

As our Senior Backend Engineer, you'll architect and build the AI-first systems that make personalized learning possible at scale. This isn't about building another LMS - this is about creating technology that understands how each student learns best and adapts instantly to help them succeed.

What You'll Build:

Production AI Learning Systems

• Design AI-first architectures that handle million-student scale with sub-100ms response times
• Build custom AI tools specific to Subject's educational needs, shipping features 3x faster than industry standard
• Implement production LLM systems with <0.1% error rates that directly impact student outcomes
• Create AI-powered personalization engines that adapt learning paths in real-time
• Develop AI cost optimization strategies, saving $50K+ monthly while improving performance

Scalable Educational Infrastructure

• Architect backend systems supporting real-time learning analytics for 100K+ concurrent students
• Build intelligent content delivery that adapts to each student's learning velocity and style
• Design event-driven architectures processing 10M+ learning interactions daily
• Implement caching strategies that make premium education accessible on any device
• Create assessment engines that understand not just what students know, but how they learn

AI-Enhanced Teaching Tools

• Develop teacher dashboards powered by AI insights that reveal student learning patterns
• Build district integration APIs that seamlessly connect Subject's AI with existing school systems
• Design AI-assisted content recommendation engines that suggest optimal learning sequences

The Technical Challenge:

Building AI-powered personalized education requires solving complex distributed systems problems at the intersection of machine learning and human learning.

Technical Requirements

• 5+ years of backend engineering excellence with 2+ years building production AI/ML systems that directly serve users
• Backend systems mastery - You've built high-performance production services in Node.js, Go, Rust, Elixir/Erlang, or modern Java that handle millions of requests with optimal resource utilization
• AI/ML production experience - You've shipped LLMs, recommendation engines, or ML models to production and understand the operational challenges
• PostgreSQL expertise - Advanced schema design, query optimization, and scaling strategies for complex educational data relationships
• Cloud-native architecture (GCP preferred) - Microservices, event-driven systems, and container orchestration for AI workloads
• Performance optimization mindset - Experience building systems that maintain 95%+ uptime while serving real-time personalized content

The Engineering Mindset We Need

• AI-First Thinking: Every system decision considers how AI can amplify educational impact
• Student-Centric Design: Deep empathy for how students learn and obsession with removing friction from their experience
• Rapid Iteration: Ship fast, measure impact, iterate faster - student success waits for no one
• Team Multiplication: Make every engineer around you 20% more productive through knowledge sharing and mentorship

Why This Role Matters

The Opportunity

• Direct Student Impact: Every feature you ship directly affects the educational journey of 100K+ students monthly
• AI Innovation: Build production AI systems that solve real educational problems, not just tech demos
• Technical Growth: Work at the cutting edge of AI applications while solving meaningful distributed systems challenges
• Career Acceleration: Lead major initiatives that generate $1M+ in annual value through AI innovation

The Team

You'll collaborate with:

• Former startup founders who've scaled EdTech companies from zero to millions of students
• AI practitioners shipping production ML systems that actually improve learning outcomes
• Educators who understand both classroom realities and technological possibilities
• A leadership team that values technical excellence and educational impact equally

What Success Looks Like

In 3 Months:

• Shipped 2+ major AI-powered features improving student engagement by 25%+
• Established AI development practices adopted by the entire engineering team
• Reduced API response times by 40% while maintaining 99.9% uptime
• In 6 Months:
• Led development of breakthrough AI features used by 100K+ students monthly
• Implemented cost optimizations saving $25K+ monthly on infrastructure
• Mentored 2-3 engineers on AI development and educational technology

In 12 Months:

• Architected AI systems that directly contribute to measurable student outcome improvements
• Generated $1M+ in value through technical innovation and efficiency gains
• Built scalable foundations supporting Subject's next phase of growth

The Commitment We're Looking For

This role requires exceptional dedication - not because we demand it, but because students deserve our absolute best. We're looking for someone who:

• Lives the Mission: Sees improving education as meaningful life's work, not just another engineering job
• Thrives in Intensity: Energized by 60+ hour weeks when working toward transformational impact
• Values Excellence: Never accepts "good enough" when students' futures are at stake
• Builds Others Up: Makes teammates better through knowledge sharing, code reviews, and genuine mentorship

We work primarily from our office because education requires human collaboration. We stay connected because learning never stops. We push ourselves because millions of students are counting on us to get this right.

Compensation & Benefits

We offer compensation that reflects both the importance of this mission and the caliber of talent we seek:

• Base Salary: $200K - $275K based on experience and demonstrated impact potential
• Equity: Meaningful ownership stake that grows with the value you create for students
• Performance Multipliers: Bonuses tied directly to student outcome improvements and technical excellence
• Health & Performance: Comprehensive coverage, gym membership, daily meals, wellness support
• Location: Los Angeles, CA or Austin, TX (in-office collaboration required)

How to Apply: Show Us Your AI Vision

We want to see both your technical excellence and educational passion:

1. AI Production Story: Describe an AI/ML system you've built that served real users at scale. Include architecture decisions, performance metrics, and user impact.
2. Educational Innovation: In 300 words, describe one specific way AI could solve a current problem in education that existing technology hasn't addressed.
3. Technical Leadership: Share an example of how you've mentored other engineers or elevated team performance through technical excellence.
4. Scale Challenges: Describe a time you optimized a system for performance or cost while maintaining reliability.
5. Mission Alignment: Why does transforming education matter to you personally?

Join Us in Building Education That Actually Works

If you're excited about applying cutting-edge AI to transform how students learn, you might be exactly who we're looking for. We're not just building another startup - we're creating the foundation for personalized education at scale.

This is your opportunity to apply your technical skills to one of society's most important challenges. To build AI systems that don't just impress other engineers, but actually help students succeed.

Ready to architect the future of learning?